There are plenty of lotteries to pick and choose from in Spain and the Canaries and you will find lottery shops dotted around Lanzarote offering all types of tickets. The one to watch out for is El Gordo ‚The Fat One‘ which happens once a year at Christmas. A tradition that has been happening for years and dominates the TV and radio. On 22nd December Children from the San IIdefonso School in Madrid will pick the numbers from the lottery machine and sing the winning numbers. This year El Gordo is 2.31 billion Euros which is shared out amongst winners with smaller prize amounts. The odds are around 1 in 6 so you do stand a chance if you purchase a ticket
Ticket numbers are repeated up to 165 times, so winning means sharing the prize with 164 other people. One tickets costs 200 euros, but you can buy parts of a ticket at 20 euros. Some individuals buy a share of a 20 euro ticket called a portion or participaciones and could cost 1 euro.